The Osun commissioner for education, Dipo Eluwole, has said that over 11,000 dropouts re-enrolled in public schools in 2024 following improvements in education infrastructure and teaching in the state.

In an interview with journalists in Osogbo on Friday, Mr Eluwole said that the reintroduction of the school feeding programme could also account for the high enrollment of pupils in schools in rural areas.

“The activities of previous governments led to many pupils and students dropping out of schools.

“When they were building mega schools, they abandoned the schools nearer to the people and compelled a lot of pupils/students to go to these mega schools, which are far away from their homes.

“Because Osun is an agrarian state, a lot of these children hawk to even support their parents, so moving their schools farther away required they have to take buses/transport to school.

“And for poor households and families that are struggling to eat, paying transport to go to the mega schools was a lot and this forced a lot of the parents to stop sending their wards to school altogether.

“However, when Gov. Ademola Adeleke came into office, he made it a task to ensure these children return to school.

“Mr governor reintroduced the free school feeding programme and rehabilitated and reconstructed abandoned nearby schools for these out-of-school students, which is why a lot of them are going back to school now,” the commissioner said.

Mr Eluwole said that as at the last count, 203,739 pupils/students were being fed in 1,850 primary schools across the state.

He said that the Osun school feeding programme, which the federal government is planning to adopt, has also provided jobs for 2,470 food vendors in the state.

Also, Mr Eluwole said that his ministry has compelled all public schools in the state to start farming, “planting what they will be consuming.”

“The instruction to them is grow what you eat, eat what you grow,” the commissioner said.

Mr Eluwole said that the education ministry was partnering with the ministry of agriculture to provide free seedlings and tractors for schools with vast land to help them plough and cultivate their land.

(NAN)